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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

minimum equipment requirements (1 Viewer)

the black fox

Well-known member
i'm thinking about having a go at this ,and been following various threads and flickr links ,now my question is
do you really need a 80ed celestron or derivatives telescope or will a cheaper model still get decent-ish results ,funding is always a sticky question these days on a pension so i don't want to invest to excessively and find i don't like it .???????

just to add the scope i have spotted (NO pun intended) is a celestron 70mm travelscope ,available from various outlets at circa £50 .i know it won't be top dollar quality ,but hopefully will get me started
 
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Sorry, saw this earlier and meant to reply.

The scope you linked to would probably work ok up to a point. I think it only has a 1.25" focuser so you wouldn't be able to use a 2" adapter to the camera. You can get 1.25" ones but they can sometimes cause dark shadows in the corners of the photo, depends on the cameras sensor size. I can use a 1.25" on my Canon 450D without any problems.

You would very likely get some purple fringing around the edges of things in the photo, chromatic aberration. This can be removed easily with software, depending on which software you use for photo editing though. This is the reason why we use the ED glass, you don't get any purple fringing to edit out of photos.

People moan about the tripod being a bit flimsy on this scope so it may not last long.

The scope is only 400mm which is ok for close stuff but you will probably find yourself wishing you had more power. It's ok for trying out the hobby though. Shorter scopes can be a bit soft at the edges, longer scopes have a flatter image.

That's about it. I think image quality should be acceptable but aberrations will be present.

Paul.
 
hmmm that was the one question i was going to ask the shop about ,grrrrr any suggestions on a minimal budget paul ,i,m very handy at adapting things and have a large kitted out workshop for i.e mounts etc just need guidance on where and what to look at
 
Depends how that Mercury is fixed to the mount. If it comes off then it could go on any tripod I imagine. It's a shame it doesn't just come as an optical tube assembly, OTA. Then you are free to choose your own tripod. I could only find it being sold with the tripod.

I had a good trawl around and found this little scope. From what I read on the astro forums it's very well made. Focal length is 400mm, couldn't find anything in a longer focal length on a budget apart from the scope you already looked at.

The scope on this link sells elsewhere for £149 with £10 delievery. The seller on ebay is doing them for £119 plus £12 delivery. There's also a couple of bird images on this link taken with the scope.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope...UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item1e6ee86d95

Paul.
 
Jeff, some great advice from Paul. But knowing what you want the scope for I would have thought you need a 600mm one with good glass so you can add the tc with little loss of IQ.
Just my 2p's worth Jeff.
 
my heads spinning with it at the moment roy ,i like the look of the one in the link paul has posted ,but need to know a few answers
(1) will the image be the right way up through these scopes
(2) using a NIKON will a T mount suffice or do i need something else
(3) if i use a barlow lens to increase focal length does that effect exposure times etc .
(4) i already have a kenko 1.4 tc how is that mounted in line i.e does it go camera ,t.c,T-mount ,extension tube .
or would i be better off buying a old push pull zoom lens and stripping that down for a adjustable tube :-C
 
The image will be the correct way up when mounted direct to the dslr.

I've used a T-mount for a few years and it's been fine.

Your other option is to use an all in one model called a Max Dslr which has the 2" adapter and bayonet all machined from one piece of metal. Scopes n Skies sell them but they are out of stock at the moment which is why I didn't send you the link. They are £25 + postage. See http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/as...amera-adaptor/AC696-2inch to camera/DSLR.html

Astro engineering sell them too for about £28 which is a bit steep.

Any method of increasing magnification will effect shutter times. A 1.4X teleconverter or a same strength barlow would all effect shutter speed by the same amount.

Yeah, the mounting method is as you said. Camera - TC - T-mount (or max dslr) - extension tube - scope

I'd tend to be on the side of Roy and just go for a 600mm 80ED scope. If you didn't like it then resale value of that scope would still be quite good. If you want portability then a shorter scope is better. There are shorter ED scopes but prices are still quite high, in the region of £300 for ED galss in a scope 400-500mm long. You are getting 500mm already with your flickr images so I'd have thought that a 600mm would be nearer the mark.

There's a scope on ebay at the minute listed as a Skywatcher 80 ED which might be worth a look, see link. It has a metallic blue paint job though so I would check with them that it is the actual ED model and ask them why is it blue. They never made the ED model in blue so it's either been resprayed or he just has a basic scope and thinks it is ED glass. See http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Watch...UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item460af37d30

Paul.
 
Hmmm good sound advice guys ,seems like I will have to hold on till after the new year and get the skywatchers 80 ed ,doesn't seem to be a cheaper way round it for what I want to do with it.
 
For anyone interested I checked with the seller on ebay and he said the blue version of the 80ED came out before the gold and white version which I have. He said they only made it in blue for a couple of years before changing to gold. Never seen a blue one before but after some checking they have the same glass, plus this guy on ebay has upgraded the focuser with a Baader one and includes a 2" Meade diagonal which is worth a fair bit on its own.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Watch...UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item460af37d30

Paul.
 
Cheers for that Paul.

I've been watching that scope on Ebay for a couple of days now and since you posted it on here the price has gone up by £80.

;)
 
you have to be carefull with e/bay or you'll end up paying more than the new price for s/h rubbish :C
in fact that one now stands at £260 PLUS £15 P&P and theres a link on here if you search for a brand new one in the u.k with a dual speed focuser for £349 CAVEAT-EMPTOR
 
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you have to be carefull with e/bay or you'll end up paying more than the new price for s/h rubbish :C
in fact that one now stands at £260 PLUS £15 P&P and theres a link on here if you search for a brand new one in the u.k with a dual speed focuser for £349 CAVEAT-EMPTOR

The one on ebay is still good value with the Meade 2" mirror diagonal which cost nearly £100 new. The Baader focuser would have cost around that much too. Second hand SW80ED's hold their price well, they always have done.

Paul.
 
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